


AWE-50

by Eins_Esk



Category: Control (Video Game)
Genre: (literal) Darkness, AWE-50, Altered Item, Black Rock Knives, Blood and Injury, Brainy is the new sexy, Camping, Canon-Typical Violence, Cold Weather, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Nightmares, Object of power, Post canon, Post-Canon, Power Outage, Science, Slow Burn, The Astral Plane, Useless Lesbians, bright darkness, nasty scientists, not-light, the lockdown is lifted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 08:53:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27848030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eins_Esk/pseuds/Eins_Esk
Summary: There is an AWE (AWE-50) happening at [REDACTED], Michigan and it’s very poweful and dangerous. It’s dark and cold out there - or is it? This is Jesse’s first Event after Ordinary and she is going to have to investigate it alongside Emily and Arish while coming to terms with the fact that she is now part of the organisation that destroyed her life. Both Jesse and Emily are trying to figure out their feelings for each other, out there in the dark.
Relationships: Jesse Faden & Emily Pope, Jesse Faden/Emily Pope, Simon Arish & Jesse Faden
Comments: 19
Kudos: 89





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you [podgle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/podgle/pseuds/podgle) for beta reading this for me! Check out her stories, they're awesome :)

Jesse entered the Board Room with a flourish. The Hiss had finally been cleared out and they could just do normal, or what counted as normal in the Oldest House, work for once. She had scientists researching the structures and crystals from the Foundation, she had Raynor and Arish recruiting new Rangers, and Emily had asked her to join her in the Board Room because she had results on some project she’d been working on. Jesse had the feeling that this was going to be a very good day, she even finished some paperwork. Everyone seemed to be very fond of paperwork, there were files literally everywhere and on any topic imaginable.

“Hey”, said Emily and smiled in greeting as Jesse entered.

“Hi, Emily. You wanted to show something to me?”

Grinning, Emily nodded and stood up. She seemed reluctant to move to one of Dr. Darling’s offices. They were now hers and she even cleared out at least two of them, cataloging all the data they contained, putting them into neat boxes. But still she remained in the Board Room. Jesse liked having her here. The Board Room was useless, anyways, since the Board just stayed on their floating pyramid or whatever, never showing themselves, always calling at the most inconvenient times.

“Oh, yes”, said Emily. She stood up and lifted a heavy looking chest onto the table. Now this looked intriguing. “Come here”, offered Emily while she produced a key from her pocket and opened the lock on the chest.

Jesse joined her at the table, peeking into the chest. “Emily, this is amazing!”, she exclaimed upon seeing what was inside.

“They’re all prototypes, of course”, Emily said and pulled out several differently sized knives. From the looks of it, they were all made out of Black Rock.

“Wow”, Jesse mumbled. “May I?”

“Please”, Emily said. “I think this one would suit you the most”, she said, offering one of them to the Director. It was medium sized with a thin blade. “It’s also the most durable, the others break when you use too much force, but this one seems to be the most balanced”, she said. “Length and thickness fit together.”

“This is so cool, Emily”, Jesse said. The knife fit perfectly into her hand, the handle seemed to be made for her. “Can I test it out somewhere?”

“Sure, let’s go to the training course, so you can slay some dummies. What do you say?”

“I’m game”, Jesse agreed.

The two of them went down to the training course without interruptions. The Oldest House was filling up with Agents and Rangers again, it grew louder with all the personnel working and chatting. Emily was used to it, she enjoyed the clatter around her, but Jesse felt strange in between all of these people. She longed for the empty hallways and calm atmosphere of a shut-down Bureau. She knew it was better this way, that it was supposed to be like this. But she just couldn’t deal with this many people. Everyone seemed to know her, and they all wanted something. Read this report, approve of this budget request, decide which person gets the job. This was more exhausting for Jesse than running around, shooting the Hiss. They had eliminated the last known Hiss, a Distorted, some three weeks ago, lifted the lockdown and started working normally again.

Three weeks and five complaints about Emily’s leadership, budget and equipment from Underhill later, Jesse now stood on the training course, knife in hand, stabbing a dummy. The knife sliced through the material as if it was nothing. She’d never seen, let alone owned a knife as sharp as this. It wasn’t too heavy, even though it was made out of stone. The Black Rock grew warm in her hand, the polished surface didn’t get sticky or slick. This was a lot of fun, she decided.

“This is really amazing, Emily. Can you produce more of them for the Rangers? Especially the AWE response team could use them.”

“Oh- yeah, sure!”, said Emily, smiling brightly. She knew she shouldn’t be as giddy about this as she was. It was just that Trench never even considered her ideas and Dr. Darling had been too absorbed in his own research that it didn’t matter what kind of report or idea she sent to him. It didn’t matter how well thought through her ideas were, he never approved of them because he never read them. But Jesse approved of them with enthusiasm. She tried to understand her musings even though Emily was pretty sure that the Director didn’t understand anything more often than not, never saying anything so Emily could talk her idea through and correct herself in the process.

Jesse had also invited Emily over to her new apartment tomorrow, which made her happier than she already was. She wanted to get to know Jesse better, she’d like to see her personal space, learn about the things she liked.

“I might have to adjust the size, don’t you think?”

“That’s true. Arish, Raynor and their men might need them a little bit bigger than this. How come this one is balanced so perfectly, but too small?” Jesse asked, regretting it immediately. She wanted to stop giving Emily the feeling that the scientist had to do everything perfectly. Jesse was afraid of making Emily feel pressured, but the Head of Research just lifted one eyebrow.

“Well, Director”, she quipped. “That’s because this prototype was made for _you_ and not for the Rangers.” She grinned. “You were the only one that thought the knives might be a good idea. Even Arish wasn’t convinced that it would work out. So, of course, I tried to make one that would fit you the most. I’ll just have to adapt the scale somewhat because you’re lighter and smaller than most of the male Rangers. The female ones won’t need a new design, I can just reproduce this one for them. It’s not going to take long, now that I have a working blueprint.”

Jesse grinned at her Head of Research. “You’re the best, Emily. Wait until I show this to Arish. He’ll want one immediately and he will regret not believing in you.”

“Thanks, Jesse”, Emily said. She just hoped that she could prove herself, but it wasn’t easy to live up to the expectations. Dr. Darling had been an incredible scientist. People expected her to be just as brilliant but with Underhill undermining her authority, constantly questioning her and sneaking snarky remarks into her files, she was beginning to feel very tired of this situation where nobody believed in her. Well, almost nobody because Jesse seemed to have an unshakable trust in her.

“Here”, Emily said and offered a knife sheath to Jesse, smiling shyly. “I was hoping you’d like it, so I had this made. Now you can actually take it with you and use it, if you need it.”

The Director started grinning. “Perfect. Thank you so much!” It wasn’t often that she got presents, and this was absolutely something she’d appreciate. It touched her that Emily had made this especially for her. “Let’s go search for Arish”, she decided on a whim. He should see this for himself, because he was going to love it and regret doubting Emily.

“I’ve got some reports…”

“Oh, no. No, Emily. You have to come with me. I want you to feel the satisfaction of being right.”

“I just don’t want him to, you know- I don’t want him to feel bad”, Emily said, and Jesse frowned.

“Arish will take this with humor, Emily. He won’t be mad, he’ll beg you to produce these as fast as possible for all of his men and women.”

Emily sighed. “Alright, then”, she said and let herself be dragged to Central Executive, where Arish was still positioned at his temporary security base. Jesse took one of the dummies, too.

Emily just hoped that none of the Rangers or scientists from the shelter were there. She’d suffered through seemingly endless hours of awkward silence after they went in. Small talk wasn’t her strong suit at all, but it didn’t matter anyways. Nobody had wanted to talk to her. She knew she shouldn’t take it personally. They didn’t know her. She had always been running around on errands for Dr. Darling, researching something for his projects or trying to _finally_ finish her dissertation. She hadn’t had her lunch break with them, because that was not the rhythm that Darling worked. He had worked all the time which meant that she had also worked all the time. She just wished that she had a more winning personality. Emily sighed defeatedly. Her scientists did what she said, of course, since Jesse had made her Head of Research. That didn’t mean they liked it, or her.

“Everything alright?”, Jesse asked. She stopped and turned around to Emily. People were walking by and Jesse frowned at her, the dummy standing beside her like a bodyguard.

“Sure”, Emily said but she could see that Jesse didn’t believe her. But she didn’t probe, though, and for that Emily was grateful. She couldn’t very well complain to her boss about the lack of friendliness her own staff was directing at her – like a pouting child that didn’t understand why the others didn’t like them. She was supposed to be the leader of those scientists. Their opinion about her shouldn’t matter.

When they reached Central Executive, Arish eyed the dummy sideways before addressing them: “Faden, Pope. I know I said I needed more personnel, but I really don’t think that this will do the job.” He grinned, clapping the dummy on the shoulder. Emily smiled. She liked how easy going Arish always seemed to be. He really made everyone feel welcome.

“You know Arish”, Jesse said, leaning on the dummy’s shoulder. “I wanted to show you something. There’s this thing someone gave to me and I need this nice fella to demonstrate.” Jesse winked at Emily, who almost managed to hide her grin.

The Director drew the knife and stabbed the dummy. The blade cut through the material effortlessly, cutting away layers. The poor thing didn’t stand a chance.

Arish whistled. “I guess this is the Black Rock knife Emily designed?” He gestured for Jesse to give the knife to him and then weighed it in his hand, nodding his approval.

“It is”, Jesse confirmed.

“Well, Pope. I have to admit now that it was a good idea”, he said, inspecting the blade from all sides. “This is very good. I’m sorry I doubted you.”

“It’s fine”, said Emily, grinning proudly.

“Would you make some of these for me and my guys?”, he asked and gave the knife back to Jesse.

“She already perfected them for you”, Jesse said. “We’ll be able to equip the Rangers with them.”

“They’re very durable”, Emily said. “I’ve run tests on them and they don’t lose any of their sharpness when normal knives don’t cut anymore. I really think they will be a good addition to your gear.”

“Thank you”, said Arish and smiled. “Well, at least I didn’t bet against you.”

Jesse narrowed her eyes playfully. “How sad, I could be rich right now. I would’ve put my money on Emily.”

Their smiles vanished when they heard someone mutter _of course she would have_ and a snort. Jesse frowned again. Arish spun around but couldn’t make out who said it in the crowd of people buzzing around.

He sighed. “Not everyone is happy about your decision to make Pope the Head of Research”, he explained. “They think Underhill was the better choice, because she has more experience.”

Emily pressed her lips into a thin line and nodded. She knew this, but Jesse seemed to be exasperated about it. She threw dark glares around the room, narrowing her eyes.

“Why would they?”, she asked sharply. “Underhill is interested in nothing but the mold. She’s constantly complaining about something. It’s not as if she’s showing interest into anything, really.” The Director let out an annoyed sigh. Emily wisely didn’t say anything, but Arish nodded slowly. He didn’t seem to be a big fan of Raya Underhill, either.

“She doesn’t even want to solve the problem with the mold. It’s still spreading from the active Threshold and all of her reports are about the fascinating structure of the mold-organism and not about how we can contain it, seal it, _anything_ ”, Jesse said.

Jesse raked a hand through her hair. “I’m sorry for snapping at you, Arish. I just don’t understand why they accept me, who has no experience with anything regarding the Oldest House at all, but not Emily, who has worked here for way longer.”

“Faden, you waltzed in here, singlehandedly killed the majority of Hiss, lifted the lockdown and saved us all from the Altered Items that got loose from the Panopticon. I don’t think people need any more proof that you get the job done. Don’t give up though, Pope”, Simon said, clapping Emily’s shoulder like he had done it with the dummy. “You’re a good scientist, they’ll get it sooner or later. Hang on, alright?”

“Alright”, Emily agreed, smiling at him. “I should go back down to calculate the exact dimensions of the blade so your staff will have them sooner rather than later.”

“Please do”, said Arish, but before he could continue, a frantic scientist joined them. He had a clipboard with hastily written notes on it with him.

“Director”, he said. His tone of voice indicated that he wanted to discuss a very serious matter. “There’s an AWE happening right now. All instruments are indicating towards a very powerful Event.”

Jesse felt adrenaline pushing though her veins, followed by dread. “Where?”, she asked.

“We couldn’t locate it precisely, but it’s somewhere near a small town in Michigan. We believe it might be the local scrapyard because the affected area is located outside of the town itself.”

Jesse groaned and Emily took a step closer to her, as if to subtly reassure her.

“There seems to be a power outage of some sort, we can’t reach the local police or anyone else in that area. We normally try to get them to wait for us until they do something. Dr. Darling invented a whole fake agency to make sure the Bureau can act unseen when an AWE happens.”

“Believe me, I know”, growled Jesse. Her muscles were getting taut and she dug her nails into her palm. The goddamned agency, covering up the whole thing in Ordinary, masking it as an industrial accident. She felt herself getting rigid, but fought to control her emotions. This scientist was just doing what they’ve always done. And she had to admit that it wouldn’t be a good idea to publicly announce an Altered World Event, just like that. The Bureau stayed hidden at all costs. Her personal experience didn’t matter, what mattered was that she would do her best to keep all the locals alive.

The scientist shifted awkwardly. He could sense the tenson in the air. So he waited for a response.

Jesse got in control of her emotions again, there was no point in overthinking Ordinary yet again. She’d already done that for the better part of her life. They needed to get their job done. “Sorry”, she mumbled. “I remembered something.”

The scientist was sure that he didn’t know what it was that made the Director angry like this, but he sincerely hoped that it wasn’t him.

“Arish, get the response team. And Emily, you get your team of scientists. We have to go as soon as possible. Raynor will see to the safety of the Bureau. I’ll leave Underhill in charge of the other scientists until we get back. We’ll meet up in an hour, is that enough time?”

“Yes, ma’am”, said Arish, all business now.

“I’ll talk to Raya”, Jesse said and briskly walked away before Emily could stop her. It was clever to leave Underhill in charge. She was a very good scientist, after all and she knew all about Bureau policy. Emily just really wanted to reassure Jesse. She’d seen her tense up. This was not at all an ideal time for Jesse to be in charge of something that has literally destroyed her entire life, seventeen years ago. Emily didn’t doubt Jesse’s integrity, but she was biased in a way nobody would ever be able to understand and that made her very unpredictable.

 _It’s fine_ , Emily tried to reassure herself. Jesse’s unpredictability was exactly what got them out of the whole Hiss-mess. It would be fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this, there will be multiple chapters! Thanks for reading :)


	2. Chapter 2

They met up again in the parking lot. Rangers were loading up black vans. Typical for an agency to own black vans, Jesse thought. She never even owned a car. And now she was in charge of several of them, including expensive equipment. The Rangers were quick and effective. Arish gave out orders – he had done this several times before, as had most of the staff they were taking. Jesse felt as if she was the only one not really knowing how to proceed, which was hilarious, considering that she was the Director of the whole freaking agency. She sighed. If she was going to lead these people, she better started learning how to do it immediately.

Underhill had grumpily taken the responsibility for the science departments. She’d muttered about how she now had to do ‘the work of the Head of Research without being compensated for it at all’, but she couldn’t really say no to it, considering that Jesse just got them out of the biggest mess in Bureau history. So, the scientist had sniffed, held her head high and proceeded to probe around in her mold samples. The very same mold samples Jesse had brought her.

* * *

The Rangers loaded up some tents and other camping gear and the group of scientists started talking about their upcoming trip. Emily could only make out some of it, since she stood somewhat aside, making sure the measurement instruments were stored properly.

“I just don’t understand it”, said one of them. “I mean she’s just such a weirdo, have you heard her talking about Black Rock knives? There’s got to be something seriously wrong with a person so enthusiastic about it.”

“Yep. I thought the same thing. She even got the Director to bring her some Black Rock to test it out. Poor Pope, too afraid to go to Black Rock Quarry herself”, mocked another one.

“Well, if they work, why shouldn’t Faden help her? She’s gotten Underhill samples, too”, was the response of the only male scientist among them. He frowned upon hearing his coworkers’ words, as did Emily.

“Sure, Mick. It probably works and it will probably impress Director Faden, that is the whole goddamned problem. Faden just doesn’t know who she put in charge of us. No idea why it’s Pope, of all people, that she trusts. Have you ever seen our new _Head of Research_ ”, she added the title with a mocking tone, “leave the Building on time before? I mean she probably lives by herself. She should just move into one of her offices. Too busy to have a life of her own”, she said, snorting.

“Well, Julia, why didn’t that bother you when it was Darling?”

“Because Darling was a genius”, said Julia. “He’s the reason we’re alive, thanks to his HRAs. All Pope did was some pathetic attempt to give a speech about _pulling through_ when we were in that shelter. God, I hope I’ll never have to share quarters with her again.”

Emily supported herself at the edge of the car, leaning onto it heavily. She pressed her lips together and made sure not to make any sound of distress, even though it was hard containing it and tried to block out the rest of their conversation. They weren’t aware that she’d been able to hear it, she was sure.

She’d known that she wasn’t very popular among the other scientists. She didn’t really know why, since she had just started out like every other new employee in one of the science departments. She’d been made Darling’s assistant later, when she’d already proven herself as a competent scientist. It was something she had always prided herself on, that she was a good scientist with a good perception of even the weirdest things.

It wasn’t a secret that she was somewhat eccentric. Nothing compared to Darling, but she knew she had her quirks, too. One of them seemed to be her inability to connect to people with the curious exception of Jesse. Not only had the new Director been able to survive the Hiss without an HRA, but Emily had also not had any problems while talking to her. She didn’t feel awkward around her and that was something she cherished.

Looking at the group of scientists she suppressed a shiver. They didn’t have to like her, they just needed to know that she was competent. They had probably looked up to Darling, but she could cope if they didn’t see the same things in her as they did in him.

She just wished that they wouldn’t be so cruel, even if they hadn’t known that she was right there.

* * *

Jesse had changed into her urban response gear. They would be on the road for at least nine hours and then they had to assess the situation without gaining too much attention from the locals. They had to lie low, it’s what the Bureau did.

She saw Emily standing beside one of the cars, looking like she’d seen a ghost. Jesse wondered why that was and went over to her. Emily, too, had changed. She didn’t look as if she was working for some government agency anymore. It was strange seeing her out of her work clothes with jeans and a plain shirt on. She still looked cute, though, she always did. She wasn’t frowning anymore, either, but Jesse was sure that there was something bothering her.

“Jesse, hey”, said the scientist.

“Hey”, Jesse responded. “Everything alright? Are you ready?”

“Fine”, said Emily sharply and too fast and didn’t give Jesse the chance to probe the reason for her strange behavior. “We’ve got everything, including a containment receptacle. I’m sorry we couldn’t get any more information, landlines seem to be cut off and we can’t reach them at all, not even on mobile. Whatever is happening there seems to prevent any communication. The power outage seems to go on, too. This can’t be a coincidence, it’s probably related to the AWE.”

“It’s not your fault, Emily. I won’t expect you to know everything. We’ll just have to go there and see for ourselves.”

Emily sighed. “That’s true. But we’re better informed about an Event, normally. Now we know next to nothing, just the location from what our instruments are telling us. I’m sorry your first AWE is on a scrapyard, of all places, without any additional information and in the cold.”

The Director touched her hand to her own shoulder. It was true, the scrapyard did scare her, for some reason. All of this began on a place too similar to it. Maybe someone else’s life was being destroyed right this second, on that scrapyard in Michigan.

“Dylan and me, we were all alone, then”, she said. “I’ve got you for backup now, what can go wrong?” she joked but Emily just groaned.

“Don’t say it like that. I thought being in the Oldest House was safe and look what happened.”

Jesse hummed her agreement. “And yet, here we are.”

“That’s true. So, let’s go and deal with this, then. I still want to see your new apartment!” Emily added the last part lower, so that the others wouldn’t be able to hear it. It wasn’t wrong to have an ongoing friendship with the Director, right? Trench and Darling had been friends for years. But Emily felt as if everyone could see that she wished for this to be more than friendship. This could even cost her job, she was sure there was a policy against dating your superior. Oh god, they weren’t even dating. Jesse wouldn’t fire her over this, it wouldn’t make sense since she’d be a participant. Hypothetically, because Emily didn’t even know if Jesse was into women. Or if she would even be interested in _her_ which was improbable, right? This was a mess.

Emily snapped out of it when she felt Jesse brush a hand down her arm. “You ok?”, she asked with a frown. The scientist drew back as if she had been burned.

“Yeah, fine”, she said, distractedly. “Let’s go.”

Jesse watched as Emily walked away, checking the equipment one last time. She was rooted to the spot for a few moments. She pulled her sleeves down over her hands. What the fuck had just happened?

“Faden!”, called Arish. “We’re all ready to go. Just say the word and we’re on the road.”

Right. They had a job to do. They had to assess the situation, contain an Altered Item and make sure the AWE got covered up with a believable story. “Alright, let’s go!”, she said with more confidence than she felt. They needed to get there as fast as possible to prevent any harm.

She saw Arish and Emily get into different cars and went to join the Rangers in another one. Arish had insisted on them taking different cars. In case that there was an accident, they couldn’t have the Head of Research, the Captain of the Rangers and the Director all in one car. He had also planned for her to ride the car with most of the Rangers – just in case. Jesse felt awkward. They needed their Director alright, but she just wasn’t much of an asset at all. Sure, she knew how to use the Service Weapon and she was very good at shooting stuff. But she didn’t know any other things that were important for the Bureau. She hadn’t even read the whole policy, because she fell asleep on page 20. There were just so many regulations. So, she really didn’t know anything at all.

It hadn’t been a problem with the Hiss, but now that she had to do the normal tasks of the Director, she noticed all the things that needed to be done. She’d tried to catch up on paperwork but had to read up on the regulations for most of it. It just took so much time, it was ridiculous how little she had gotten done in the past weeks. And it was very frustrating. Jesse had felt accomplished whenever she cleared out another area and made it Hiss-free but slaving over paperwork she understood nothing about was just about the most frustrating thing she had to do. At least she had Emily, who knew almost everything regarding rules and regulations. She wanted to hire an office assistant, but hadn’t found one, yet. She promised herself to never let them collect mugs, ever.

It was a long drive up to Michigan. Jesse swore that she could see it getting colder the closer they got. They took several breaks on their way and Jesse tried to talk to Emily, but her Head of Research seemed to be very busy all the time. It made Jesse frown again, thinking back to their conversation in the parking lot – had she done something wrong? It was so hard to read people.

Jesse just couldn’t assess the situation. She’d been very good with people when she was still a kid, but as it turns out, the AWE in Ordinary not only cost her family, but also her skills regarding other people. She couldn’t trust the government, she couldn’t even trust her own psychiatrist who apparently sent every tape of every session she ever had with her to the Bureau. What a fucking breach of trust. So, it didn’t really surprise her to be at a total loss while interacting with people. She still expected them to wrong her in some way. Maybe this was her problem.

Jesse sighed. She thought she and Emily were on the same page. They built a friendship in the middle of the whole Hiss-mess, and Jesse had thought maybe they even tentatively build something more. It was why she had tried to perfect her lasagna for the past week, so she’d be able to impress Emily when she came to visit. That should’ve been tomorrow, but instead they were on their way to a town somewhere in the middle of nowhere to get an AWE under control. She groaned. This was so not what she had envisioned.

They had almost reached the town that had been found nearest to the AWE when the Director saw the first snowflakes fall. It was already dark, no streetlights were shining when they finally entered the town. There were no lights in the houses. The power outage was still going on. It had been hours, this couldn’t be a normal occurrence. It must have something to do with the AWE. What would suck the energy out of the infrastructure? The night seemed darker than normal.

Their procession stopped at the local police station and Arish got out of the car, rapping on the door. Jesse could see that he was tired, his hunched over shoulders gave him away.

She left the car in time for a police officer to join them outside. He seemed very happy to see them.  


“Hello, ma’am, sir”, the officer greeted.

“Good evening”, Arish answered. “I’m Simon Arish and this is Jesse Faden. We’re here about the power outrage? It seems to be a big problem.”

“Yes, the power has been gone the whole day. We never experienced something like this. We didn’t know what to do, so I am very glad that you finally arrived. I sent one of my men out to call for help.”

“Yeah”, Arish said, lying smoothly. “This seems to be a big problem, we’ve got equipment and everything with us. We have to find out where the power got cut off to assess the damage. You shouldn’t worry, though. This kind of thing is rare, but it happens.”

Jesse saw him tense as the officer told them he sent someone out for help. This was clever, they needed to get the power on again, but it would make it much more difficult to just cover the thing up as planned. Now they’d have to convince the real workers of their legitimacy, they would have to get them to leave and never to see the actual problem. Whatever that was.

“Were there any occurrences that could’ve set off this power outage?”, asked Jesse. She was the Director. She should do something, right?

“Yes, actually.”

Arish’s eyebrows shot up. He hadn’t expected this.

“There was a big storm, just before the power was cut. It was really bad, people couldn’t leave their houses because lightning was striking everywhere. It was really not normal, I’ve never seen the likes. It even set a fire at the scrapyard, but luckily it didn’t spread and starved eventually. Everything’s wet, anyways.”

Arish nodded. “This is very helpful”, he pointed out. “Maybe there’s a major electric cable there that was struck by lightning or got damaged by the fire, somehow. We’ll try to get the power on again as soon as possible”, he promised. “But we can’t do it now, in the night. Is there a hotel of some sort in this town?”

“No, I’m sorry. There’s not much traffic around here, the motel closed a few years back”, said the officer.

“That’s no problem”, Jesse said. They still had tents with them, even though she was sure it would be one of the most uncomfortable nights since she lost her last job and had to sleep outside for a few days. But it had been summer, then. Now, thick snow was falling and it kept getting darker. This was no normal night. The darkness creeped her out.

“Faden”, Arish said. She joined him by the cars after they said their goodbyes to the officer.

“If this works, they’ll think it was just some kind of too-long power outage due to the lightning, we just have to be fast enough.”

“Who’s responsible for something like this, normally?”

“The state. They should send their own workers to assess the damage to the underground cables when the officer he sent reaches out for help. We can’t call him back, it’s too late but we can call them off when they get here. We just need to find out about this AWE and we can wrap this up as an accident, caused by violent weather.”

“Yeah”, Jesse murmured. An accident, like it had been an ‘accident’ in Ordinary. She knew this was the best way, but it still made her bitter to think about all the ways the Bureau had failed her and her brother. Still, she had to pull through. She was the Director and it didn’t make sense for her to wallow in self-pity. “So”, she said. “No hotel. Good thing you insisted on the camping gear, Arish.”

He smiled, smugly lifting an eyebrow. “See, I knew we’d need this. It’s always like this, I swear we can never have a comfortable stay near an AWE.”

“Let’s go then, we still have to put up the tents and everything.”

“I say we build our camp near that scrapyard. That way, we can stay another night if we can’t figure this out tomorrow.”

Jesse gave her ok, so they all drove up to the scrapyard. They didn’t go all the way to stay out of a potential area of activity of the AWE, but started to build up their camp a good two miles away from it. The Rangers set up floodlights first, but the night seemed to swallow the light.

“Jesse”, said Emily, joining her where she stood beside her sad attempt to build up her tent. Her Head of Research looked somewhat sheepish. “My instruments show that the AWE is definitely happening on that scrapyard. I thought… maybe we could go and take a look?”, she asked hopefully. This made Jesse smile. Of course Emily couldn’t wait to take a look.

“You think one of the Rangers will put my tent up?”, Jesse asked, gesturing towards the mess that was her tent.

“Oh, I’m sure they will. We’ll have to share two by two, anyways”, said Emily and threw a concerned look to the rest of the scientists. “Well, I mean, you’re the Director. You get your own, but they can still build it up for you.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes at all.

“Alright, Emily. But we’re taking at least two Rangers. Hey, Arish!”, she called. She would not take any risks now. She knew what happened at these events. Projectors would make you disappear, refrigerators would kill you, traffic lights would remove you from where you’re standing. Whatever this was, she wouldn’t allow anyone to get hurt. “We want to make an excursion towards the scrapyard. You’ve got everything under control, right?”

“Sure. Be careful, though. You never know what will await you there. Events are fragile, it could get out of hand fast and at any moment.”

“We just want to take a look, we won’t go near it”, Jesse said with a pointed look towards Emily.

He nodded at that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this!


	3. Chapter 3

Emily, Jesse and two Rangers in full gear trekked to the scrapyard. They had to walk through the snow, which was already piling up to their ankles, wetting Jesse’s socks and the legs of her pants. Polaris flared in her dark field of vision and Jesse frowned. Their flashlights didn’t really help all that much. Emily had put some smaller instruments into a backpack to take with them. Everything else would have to wait until morning.

Jesse got the feeling that it got darker, the nearer they got to the scrapyard.

“Is it getting _darker_?”, asked Emily. Jesse understood her astonishment, it had been dark before, it had gotten considerably darker in town and it still got darker now. “What’s happening?”

“Can you measure this? This is definitely not normal”, Jesse said. The Rangers that flanked them said nothing. One of them hoisted her rifle up higher.

“No, it’s not. I can measure lux, but I don’t have anything to measure… darkness”, Emily said and shuddered in the cold.

They had almost reached the gate now, but Jesse could only make out shadows. A knot was beginning to build inside her. The pitch black seemed to swallow them, and the Rangers shifted uncomfortably, along with Emily, who promptly shivered again. Thick snow covered the soil. Beyond the gate were car wrecks, old washing machines, discarded furniture and all other kinds of scrap. It got darker still. They rounded a stack of car wrecks.

Polaris crystals violently flared, just as Emily was about to round the same stack on the other side. Jesse roughly grabbed her arm to prevent her from going further. “Stop”, she whispered breathlessly.

“What is it?”

“I’m not sure”, said Jesse. “Polaris, uh, warned me. I think she can sense whatever it is here, and I think it’s behind this stack of cars.”

“But we can’t know if we can’t see it, Jesse”, said Emily. She was already reaching for her backpack, for her instruments, ready to do science, to find out what was happening.

“No. But I think it’s dangerous. She only ever does… this flaring when there’s something dangerous”, Jesse said. “Or a Control Point”, she added after a moment. “But I don’t think it is a Control Point.”

Jesse stood at the edge of the stack now, having switched places with Emily. The prospect of going around the corner filled her with unease. Polaris crystals swirled. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to round the corner”, she said.

“Ma’am”, said one of the Rangers. She turned to face him, but it was pitch black. The darkness was beginning to make her feel uneasy. Did it really have to be a stupid scrapyard? She couldn’t see in the dark, but the wind and the creaking noises made her remember the day they found the projector. She steadied herself with one hand at the stack, trying to make out something, anything. She didn’t even know if the Ranger really was in that direction. Reaching out her hand found Emily in the dark, right beside her. Jesse touched her arm, because she felt dizzy all of a sudden. The blackness prevented her from knowing any direction.

“Yeah?”

“It’s the flashlight”, he said. She could hear clicking, but the flashlight only flickered before dying completely. “This isn’t possible. They’re supposed to shine for hours and we’ve been here for only a few minutes.”

Well, _fuck_ this.

“It must be an Altered Item”, Emily said, quietly for some reason. “It literally sucks up the energy.” Jesse heard her rummaging around her backpack. For a few moments, a tiny screen lit up before darkening again. “All my instruments are dying, too”, Emily said, fear creeping into her voice. “What the fuck is there?”

“Nobody is rounding this corner”, Jesse said with determination. “This is an order.”

None of them spoke while they stood like that in the dark. Jesse noticed that she was still gripping Emily’s arm. “Sorry”, she murmured while letting go. She missed the warmth and the anchor her Head of Research had provided. The knot inside of her had gained weight, it seemed. She could feel it tightening.

She crouched, picking up some tiny stones and metal pieces. “Emily”, she said. “I’m going to throw something.”

“You’re what?”

“I am going to throw something into the direction of the Altered Item. I want you to… I don’t know, _observe_. You’re the scientist.”

“Alright. Maybe we’ll learn something”, Emily’s voice was tight with unease, maybe even fear. Jesse figured it was because they were so close to what would be her very own AWE to investigate, but Polaris was still violently flaring into her vision, every time she moved near the edge. She threw one of the small stones, her hand was hit with blazing heat as it left the shadow of the stack in her movement. She pulled it back hastily, gasping. She never saw what happened to the stone.

“Shit”, Emily swore.

“What did you see?”, Jesse asked, touching her own hand. It was warmer than before, but nothing else had happened.

“It looked like very strong light. The stone was backlit for a second, then it fell down. But that can’t be, we would be able to see the light source constantly if there was one. There would be shadows. But everything’s black”, the Head of Research sounded very concerned now.

“Alright, ok. You know where I stand.”

“Yeah.”

“Watch my arm”, Jesse said and she heard Emily starting to protest as she stretched out her arm. It was hot, she could see the outline of her hand and arm, backlit from where complete darkness should be. It felt like being too close to a bonfire, but it was still bearable. The light that got around her arm was so intense it almost hurt to look at the outline of her arm. She pulled it back.

“What the fuck.” Emily breathed and reached out in the dark, her hand meeting Jesse’s shoulder from where she felt her way to the arm that had been stretched out. It was warm, but unscathed. Jesse shivered when Emily’s cold hands stroked down her arm to search for potential damage. “I believe you, now”, said the scientist. “Whatever it is behind that pile of junk is shining so intensely that we probably cannot look at it. But- I don’t understand how it can be so dark otherwise. It seems to swallow up energy and light while shining very brightly. This is an Altered Item alright.”

Emily’s brain had already started working full speed. She was also still lightly stroking Jesse’s arm, which was very nice. She stopped though, to pull out another instrument.

“This measures lux. Maybe it’ll get us a result before it dies completely”, she said. She sensed that Jesse wouldn’t let her do it. “Take this”, she said, putting the instrument into Jesse’s waiting hand. “Hold this part so it faces us, it will display the result. And the other part has to face the light source. Alright?”

“Yep”, Jesse said. She held it so that they all could see the tiny display and then she stretched out her arm with the probe into the not-light. It immediately went up to 300,000 lux and then higher and higher, it didn’t stop until the display got darker and died. Jesse pulled her arm back, the warmth of whatever there was, was gone immediately.

“This is not possible”, Emily muttered. “This is simply off the charts.”

“You know, I never thought a merry-go-round would grant me the power to evade shots, but that’s exactly what happened on my first day of work”, Jesse said. Emily actually snorted at that. She felt somewhat better now that they actually _did_ something to understand this. Still, the unease lingered, Ordinary pushed back into her mind. How they found the projector, how they used it. They used it in the nights, too, to escape their boring life. To escape sleep, to escape how _ordinary_ everything was, but at what price? They’d just been children. They couldn’t have known that it would destroy their whole lives.

“You’re right. We can’t do anything else here, but at least we can confirm the existence of an Altered Item and its location. It doesn’t seem to move, either. We can secure this area and then we can try and contain it.”

“Well. Now we have to find our way back without any light. Guys, I hope you know where we came from because I have no idea”, Jesse said.

“I know the way, ma’am”, the female Ranger said and Jesse thought she could hear her saluting in the darkness. The Ranger was right, she knew the way, even in the absolute darkness created by an Altered Item which was surrounded by not-light and sucking the energy out of every possible device, even out of the underground cables.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is shorter than the others, so I thought I should just upload it for the weekend.  
> I'd love to hear your thoughts on this and I hope you liked it :)  
> Stay safe out there!


	4. Chapter 4

By the time they got back, Jesse was sure her feet were made of ice and she was glad to see the flickering of a campfire. Not only did it promise warmth, but also actual light. She could see that all tents were build up and were located around the fire in a half-circle. 

“Alright. Miller and I will stay awake tonight”, said Arish. “And Johnson and Lass will have night duty tomorrow.” The Rangers nodded their heads. Jesse thought that she should’ve known this. Of course they needed a night watch when they were so close to an Altered Item. 

“What happened to the floodlights?”, she asked but thought that she already knew the answer.

Arish just confirmed what she already guessed: “They went out of power shortly after you took off, even though they should’ve had power for several days. The fire seems to be normal though, so it might just be electricity that’s affected. Did you find anything interesting?”

“We did, actually”, said Jesse but let Emily explain their findings while she went to change her pants and shoes, grateful that she took Emily’s advice to pack a thick sweater and a scarf. She felt better after she changed into the warmer clothes, wrapping the scarf around her neck up to her chin so she almost vanished into the soft material. It made her feel better. She glanced at the direction of the scrapyard. The total darkness still frightened her, more so now that there was a distance between her and the Altered Item, for some reason. She felt ready to bolt, to bring as much distance between herself and that scrapyard as possible, but she resisted the urge, of course. She was the Director.

When she came back, she saw Rangers and scientists talking. And she saw Emily sitting by herself, staring into the flames. It was obvious that she had finished explaining their findings and that no one bothered to include her in a conversation. She sat down beside her Head of Research and it earned her a real smile. “Hey”, Emily greeted softly. Her skin looked golden in the glow of the fire. Snowflakes fell softly. Not as much as before, but it was a steady flow.

“How are your instruments?”, Jesse asked.

“All dead, it’s a tragedy”, Emily said and sighed. “We’ll just have to find another way. I’ve got some mechanical instruments we could use. You know, thermometer and such so we can at least cover the basics”, she added. She wasn’t about to be pulled down by this. She also wasn’t about to be pulled down by the hostile behavior of her own team.

Jesse hummed an affirmative. If nothing else worked, they’d find a way to contain the thing and then they could maybe run the tests back in the Oldest House. It was still a hazard though. They needed to find out how the Altered Item sucked the energy, or they’d be in the Bureau without it.

“We should divide up into groups of two for the tents”, Arish announced after they had sat at the fire for quite a while. Jesse frowned. Emily had said that she got to have a tent of her own. But what if she didn’t want to? She’d faced the Hiss without too much fear, but this was something else. She couldn’t just shoot the Thing that emitted the not-light. They didn’t know what it could do, they were far from the place she now called home. The knot she had felt before settled in her stomach again.

Then she heard the scientists murmur, stealing glances at Emily. The Head of Research surely noticed it, too, but she was sat further away so she probably couldn’t hear what they said. It was good this way, because the scientists apparently argued about who had to share a tent with Miss Uptight, aka Emily Pope. Jesse frowned. She got the feeling that Emily knew what was going on and that she tried very hard not to hear what the others might say.

“You gotta”, murmured one of them.

“Why would I? No, I won’t, like I said, I wish I never have to share quarters with her, ever again. It would be so awkward, gosh”, was the retort. It was Julia, Jesse recognized her. She had been working on the mold samples before, but had experience in field work so it had been logical to take her with them to the AWE. Emily didn’t do things illogically.

Jesse saw Mick, one of the scientists she liked, frown and risked a glance at Emily, who sat motionless. She wasn’t sure if Emily actually didn’t hear anything, but decided to put an end to it either way.

“Hey Emily”, she said loudly, silencing the scientists. “You wanna share your tent with me? I’m sure you could use someone to talk your theory through, right?” It wasn’t really a good excuse, but it was the first thing that came to mind. Emily liked talking about her theories, about her work. She loved learning and teaching, that was why she was such a good scientist. It was a miracle that she had been able to keep her Black Rock knife a secret until it was finished, Jesse thought. And knowing her, Jesse suspected that her genius Head of Research already had at least one theory about this AWE.

Emily looked at her with wide eyes before a frown set itself onto her features. “You’ve got your own tent, remember? One of the perks of being Director. You don’t have to share it with me”, she said quietly, successfully avoiding looking at Jesse directly.

Jesse leaned forward. “Yeah, well, I’d like to share it.” She glanced back at the scientists who tried very hard _not_ to look into their direction while simultaneously being very nosy. “Please”, she added, and Emily gave up easily, nodding with a small smile.

“Sure, that would be nice.”

Jesse let out a relived breath. The prospect of spending the night alone in a tent with the Item nearby, at a scrapyard wasn’t appealing at all. Not that Emily could do anything if the not-light decided to burn them to ash or whatever other things it might be able to do, but it was still comforting to have the one person she trusted near and it also didn’t hurt that the others now knew that the Director was firmly on Emily’s side. This silent war that was going on was pissing her off. Jesse just hoped that it wouldn’t make Emily any more of a target than she already was, since there was obviously some sort of dissatisfaction about her choice to promote her.

They didn’t immediately go, though. Jesse enjoyed the warmth of the fire, which was so much softer than the blazing heat of the Thing that emitted the not-light. She also enjoyed the actual light it provided, and she suspected that Emily thought the same. They sat side by side, shoulders touching and both staring into the flames. Jesse thought about what would happen when it was daylight again. The Thing seemed to swallow electricity as well as light, but would it suck in daylight, too? The fire kept burning, but there was a considerable distance between it and the scrapyard. So maybe it had some kind of Event Horizon and their camp was situated outside of it.

Arish had his Rangers put the flood lights back into the vans, since they were useless without power and Jesse hoped they would be able to do at least some basic testing before containing the Item and shipping it back to the Oldest House. She shouldn’t feel this uneasy about taking the Item back there. It was the best and the safest place to keep it, after all.

She saw the scientists starting to take off. Emily startled when they stood up but didn’t comment when Julia threw a glance at her and stomped away to collect her backpack from the car. Mick bid them good night and trailed behind her, as did the others. Emily sighed.

“It wasn’t very clever of you to say that, you know”, she said, softly.

“Like I care, Emily”, she said. “I just hope it doesn’t make it worse for you. What’s the matter, anyways?”

“Well, they hold you in high regards, so maybe it’s not that bad. And don’t worry, I don’t think it changes anything. They don’t like me taking over Darling’s position, like Arish said. They think I made you do it somehow, that it’s because I was the first one you met here. That it’s a lapse of judgement on your part.”

Jesse let out a sharp breath that could’ve been a wry laugh but wasn’t. “That doesn’t explain anything, you know.”

“Well, as you said yourself, you’re not familiar with everything at the Oldest House. They don’t hold it against you, because you obviously passed every single test anyone could’ve asked of you with flying colors when you rescued it all. But putting me in charge of the Department doesn’t seem wise to them, for some reason. I just… I don’t know why”, Emily said, sounding somewhat desperate. She did know that she wasn’t very popular among the staff, but she had thought they would accept her, if only for her good work and expertise. They did not. She’d noticed that twice now, and it had hurt both times.

“Whatever reasoning they have is bullshit, I’m telling you. You’re an excellent scientist and you will run this department just fine”, said Jesse, matter-of-factly. “They can disagree all they want.”

“Thank you, Jesse”, said Emily, putting her hand on Jesse’s arm and squeezed it. “It means a lot that you believe in me.”

“I do. But it’s still unfair that they haven’t even given you a chance.”

Emily sighed but didn’t say anything for a while.

“Come on”, said Jesse eventually. “Let’s get our stuff. We’re going to do some serious science tomorrow and I need my Head of Research well rested. She gets grumpy if she’s not, you know.”

Laughing, Emily punched her shoulder, but helped her up before they made their way to the vans. They both got their backpacks from the trunk and trekked back to the tents. Jesse crawled in first. It was pretty plain: two sleeping bags, some bottles of water. She guessed that there was some sort of light source included normally, but Arish seemed to have given up on anything that needed electricity. Instead he had built the fire near enough to emit a dim light and some warmth in the tent area. He fully intended to have it burn the whole night, she had heard him say so and instructed his Rangers to gather enough wood to keep it going. It was clever, though. They needed it for warmth at least, since the snow was piling up.

Emily dug around her backpack, pulling out her sleepwear before putting an oversized hoodie over it. She was absolutely drowning in it, it was cute. Just the tips of her fingers peeked out of it as she pushed her hair back.

“So”, Jesse started. “What do you think about all of this?”

Emily looked at her, startled, making Jesse frown in return.

“What is it?”

“Oh, I- uh. I didn’t think you’d actually want to hear it. Trench never did. He wanted finished reports on his desk, so I thought you just said that, you know, because of Julia.”

“Well I did say it to have a reason to share the tent with you other than being terrified of the dark scrapyard alone at night”, said Jesse, somewhat self-deprecatingly. After all, it wasn’t likely that something would happen. Arish held watch over them, the darkness couldn’t touch her, she wasn’t going to get transported to another dimension by this not-light. And even if she was, she handled the Astral Plane just fine. Still, she felt that the not-light was hostile. Like it was waiting, lurking. It wasn’t pleasant. “But I do want to understand this Event so we can contain the Thing.”

Emily nodded. “Well, I think we should try and get our hands on the local weather data. If the storm was as forceful as the officer told us, then maybe that’s what triggered the AWE. It would fit, because he said that lightning struck everywhere, maybe the released electricity got compressed into, uh, whatever, and that’s the Thing.”

“Could it alter a normal object?”

“Sure it could, but it could also be a completely new, altered object”, Emily said.

“How do we know if it’s an Object of Power or and Altered Item?”

“We don’t. At least, not until you do your thing and see if it grants you any additional skills.”

Jesse hummed in response. The firelight flickered, casting grotesque shadows onto the wall of the tent. “I’m guessing you want to do some tests before we try that, right?”, she asked, then.

“Yeah. When you do your thing like you did with the Plastic Flamingo, then they change once more. It’s like they get tamed by it. We’ll have to do that to contain it, so we can get it back to the Oldest House. I’d be happy if we could gather some basic data first, if that’s ok with you.”

“Of course, I’m relying on you. You realize that I have no idea how any of this works, I don’t even understand most of the bureau’s guidelines. I’m just here, you know, for backup or firepower or whatever. It’s your investigation as the Head of Research and I trust you with it.”

“Thank you, Jesse”, said Emily, smiling. “If my assumptions are correct and it’s got something to do with the storm and the lightning, I think the Item might be some kind of usual light source. Like a neon strip, lightbulb, LED or something like that. It doesn’t really matter if the Event changed an Item that’s already been here or if it is a new object. It sucks in the energy and it seems to emit light so bright that we should not look at it directly without any kind of protection.”

“Well, I’ve got an idea about that.”

“Really? What is it?”

“We passed a car repair shop, back in the town. I bet they weld. And then they’ve got those welding goggles.”

“That’s perfect, you’re a genius, Jesse!”, Emily said, excited. “How did you think of this?”

“Well, I have worked in a repair shop, once. My weld seams are shit, but my boss made sure we were safe working with the arc.”

Jesse had done so many different things in her life, thought Emily. And she had only ever worked for the FBC. This was probably why Jesse was so resourceful. She saw a problem and found a way to solve it, somehow. It didn’t matter if there would’ve been a better or more efficient solution as long as the job got done. They were a good team this way.

“So, let’s get the welding goggles tomorrow”, decided the Head of Research. “Maybe we’ll even get some photos. We can make some basic measurements and then try to contain it.”

“Sounds good. Let’s just hope the state doesn’t send any workers… but I guess we’ll have to deal with it then.”

Emily sighed. “None of these investigations are easy. Let’s just hope it works out alright.”

“I’m happy as long as no one gets hurt”, said Jesse and Emily nodded. She went to crawl into her sleeping bag, facing Jesse, who did the same. “Good night”, she added after a while.

“Good night.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for the kudos and comments - I'm glad you're enjoying this :)

When Jesse woke up, she wasn’t lying in her tent anymore and Emily wasn’t there, either. She got the distinct feeling that she was in the Astral Plane, but it was just so dark, she couldn’t even make out silhouettes. She moved into a crouching position, feeling the ground before her. It was cold, smooth stone, which was odd because the air was hot. Too hot to be normal, even hotter than a too-hot summer day and Jesse felt sweat forming on her skin.

She tried to feel her way but came to a rift. This was typical for the Astral Plane, the stone blocks were floating in the air. But how would she know where to levitate? She couldn’t see a thing. The rift could be either one, or ten feet wide. The air was stifling hot and Jesse pushed up her sleeves. Wasn’t it snowing before? But the Astral Plane wasn’t connected directly to their Plane, except for the Astral Bleed down in the Foundation. Oddly, Jesse remembered that she didn’t even know if anyone found out anything about it. She’d been so engrossed in her Sisyphus-like paperwork that she hadn’t read any of the reports that sat on her desk. It felt like a lifetime ago.

_Shit_ , she thought, coming back to her current situation. There was no way of knowing where to go. _Don’t panic_ , she told herself, but felt her breathing accelerate. She tried to remember how wide apart the stone blocks normally were but realized that the Astral Plane had no constants. The next block could be above her, for all she knew. This was a disaster. She tried to feel her way, but came to the conclusion that she was stranded on a square stone. It was a perfect square, of course. Everything in the Astral Plane was so fucking geometric. She could even imagine its marbled structure.

She would have to take a chance and just to it, to jump, levitate, anything, hoping to find the next block in the pitch black darkness. She figured that her chances weren’t great, actually. Emily would know how to calculate them, she was sure. God, she wished her Head of Research was here. They’d find a solution together. But on the other hand, she was very grateful that Emily was safe, or that’s what she hoped, at least. Did they all get sucked into the Astral Plane?

“Emily?”, she said, and repeated it louder. “Arish?” But she didn’t get an answer. “Pope!”, she shouted, but it was no use. No one was near her, no one was here. She was alone.

She leaped forward then, jumped and took the chance. But she didn’t levitate, there was no way to do it. Her ability failed her and she felt herself going down. Why didn’t it work? She collided with another block but couldn’t find purchase on the smooth surface and then she felt herself fall into whatever nothingness was under her. Hot air singed her skin while she fell.

It felt like a lifetime of falling, endless blackness surrounded her and she never hit any ground before gaining consciousness again, gasping for breath in her tiny tent with Emily’s concerned eyes on her face. It was cold, which was a stark contrast to the hot air she’d breathed before. She could see her own breath forming puffs of white before her. It mingled with Emily’s.

“Jesse”, she whispered. “You’re ok. It’s alright.” Emily had her hand on her shoulder, the warm weight grounded her in the now. It had been a dream. Morning light crept shyly over the horizon, casting dim light onto the tents and making the interior look peaceful.

“I dreamed of falling”, she said, still gasping, clutching the hand on her shoulder. “I dreamed I fell down in the Astral Plane in the dark and I kept falling, I never hit the ground.”, she said, letting go of Emily’s hand to bury her head in her hands. “I’m sorry I woke you”, she added, muffled by her palms.

“It’s almost morning, anyways. Are you sure you’re ok?”, Emily asked, her hand tightening on Jesse’s shoulder.

“Yeah”, she said and Emily’s hand fell from her shoulder. “I dreamt that I didn’t have any powers. I thought I could levitate, but I couldn’t, then I missed a ledge because I couldn’t see and I just… I just fell for so long.” She sighed.

Emily looked thoughtful. “Do you think this Altered Item is dangerous for you?”

“No”, Jesse answered. “I think my subconscious was playing tricks on me.”

“Alright, then. You know, I’ll be there when it’s be time to contain it. I won’t let you fall”, Emily said and even though this sounded horribly cliché, Jesse liked hearing the words. She liked Emily’s smile as she said them. Up until now she had contained every single Altered Item and every Object of Power alone and by herself. She wouldn’t want Emily to be sucked into the Astral Plane, but it was nice knowing that someone would be nearby. Not that it would help if she died there, in a strange Plane. But still.

“Let’s go see if Arish was able to brew some coffee, somehow”, Emily said then. She smiled at Jesse in what she hoped was a reassuring way. “No point in staying here, now that we’re awake.”

Jesse sighed. Emily was right, of course. But she still felt bad for waking her. Maybe they could really get some results today, so that there would be at least some kind of accomplishment. She knew how excited Emily was when it came to science.

They dressed and exited their tent, zipping it up again. The snow had stopped falling sometime in the night but was still piling up to their calves. The sky was a light shade of cold yellow and pink without any clouds at all, so she could still see some stars twinkling.

“Wow”, Emily commented as they joined Arish at the fire. It was burning calmly, emitting a nice warmth. The Rangers had installed some kind of grill on top of it and Arish was contentedly preparing a breakfast of sausages, toasted bread and eggs. Jesse tried imagining him in a kitchen and decided that he actually looked like he was a good cook.

“Good morning! I should’ve known you’re an early bird, Pope, but Faden?” he said, but quickly added, “no offense, of course.”

“None taken. As it turns out, I don’t like camping. I’ll be glad if we can wrap this whole thing up today, so we can be on our way back”, she said, smiling and taking the paper plate with breakfast he offered her along with a FBC cup full of freshly brewed coffee.

“Thanks”, she said, but eyed her breakfast funnily, casting a glance at Arish.

“I was a boy scout, you know”, he said when he noticed her curious glance.

Emily snickered. “I can imagine. Do you still have the badges?”

“Maybe”, he said and smirked before handing her a similar plate and cup. They took their places by the fire and ate in companionable silence.

“You know, we’re going to have to walk up to the car shop”, Jesse commented. “The car batteries are going to be empty by now.”

“Urgh, yeah. You’re right. We should also just ask for the whole welding equipment, right? How are we going to explain that we just need the goggles? It wouldn’t make sense.”

“True”, said Jesse. “We’re going to take a look at the Item, and then we set up each and every single test we can think of that doesn’t require any electricity or electric equipment. Run every test you want, your team can collect as much data as you can. And then I’m going to try and contain it.”

Emily nodded. “I hope Arish thought of something to say to the workers that will come to repair the damage. Someone is going to come, I’m sure of it. They’re without electricity for a second day now.”

Jesse nodded, thoughtful, “we should try and be quick about this whole thing.”

* * *

Getting the welding equipment was easier than either of them had thought. The shop owner was a friendly gentleman and he didn’t even ask why they needed it. They gave him a rental deposit so he would be sure that they’d bring it back and he lent them gloves and a pair of goggles as well as the machine. It took some time to get it back to camp, because it was heavy, but they managed. Emily dug out every mechanical device she could, packed barrier tape to secure a passage so no one would have to have their eyes open when they did something near the Thing and the goggles, so the Head of Research, the Director and the team of scientists could see what kind of object they were dealing with.

“I actually do feel quite prepared”, said Jesse as she walked beside Emily, carrying one of the backpacks. They had two Rangers and their whole team of scientists with them. They stopped in front of the scrapyard gates. It was light outside, but Emily could see that everything got darker. Every shade was dimmed as they stepped over the junk and scrap lying around. As they neared the place where she and Jesse had stood the day before, it was as if it was dawn.

“All of you know what to do?”, asked Emily and her scientists nodded, even Julia. She was equipped with several mechanical devices. They’d try and get temperature, maybe a frequency if it was vibrating, the voltage that the Item emitted, how it reacted to being shaded. Emily had several other things she wanted to test, but Jesse didn’t really understand enough about high voltage or Altered Items. There was a protocol for it, apparently.

They moved to the stack of cars from the night before and stopped. It was dark here, darker than dawn. Jesse took several stakes and the barrier tape and Emily handed her the goggles with a nervous smile.

“I think we would be able to do all of this without seeing the Thing, you know”, Emily said. “It would be safer if you didn’t try and look at it, I mean, I don’t want you to get hurt or blinded or-“

“Stop, Emily. We both know that some of these instruments need to be in the immediate range of it. We have to know where it is exactly.”

Emily sighed. “Alright”, she said, but gripped Jesse’s hand. “Promise you’ll be careful, Jesse.”

“I always am”, said Jesse and put the goggles on.

Taking a deep breath she went around the edge and was hit by the unnatural warmth she felt before, it was like it had been in her dream. Hot and stifling. She deliberately looked to where she thought the edge of the Item was, so she wouldn’t be looking at it directly. She could feel Emily’s eyes on her from the side.

Emily was clutching the front of her own jacket as Jesse stepped around the cars. She could see her silhouette, shining so brightly at the edges that it hurt. It was like seeing a vision in the dark with just her contours shining brightly.

Jesse gasped.

“What do you see?”, asked Emily, urgently.

“It’s a light bulb”, the Director said. “I- uh. I’m not sure. But it’s attached to a cable. There seems to be a lot of voltage, the whole thing is surrounded by tiny blue electric shocks, like lightning.”

“Where does the cable go?”

“Straight down into the earth. The light bulb is in a lamp, but the shade is missing. It’s bright, even with the goggles on. It’s also very hot. We have to reconsider. No one is going near this thing without the goggles. I don’t care how long it takes to complete the tests. I don’t want you to accidentally open your eyes or whatever.”

“Ok. I trust your judgement. We’ll do the tests one after another, everyone will wear the goggles when they go near it.”

Emily saw the Jesse-silhouette nod. “I’m still going to cordon it with the barrier tape”, said Jesse and moved out of Emily’s range of sight. When she came back, Emily could feel the heat coming off of her in waves.

“Director, are you ok?”, asked Julia who looked concerned in this fake twilight. She probably felt the heat too, because she was standing beside Emily.

“I am. Please do as I say and wear the goggles when you go near it. Don’t touch it. Just- test and come back. Alright?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Ok. Let’s do it.”

Emily took charge, then. She directed her team, told them which tests and measurements to prioritize and set up a place where they could write down everything they found out. Jesse saw stacks of blank paper with the FBC stamp, files and folders. She just stood there, in case she was needed. But the team functioned perfectly. They took the goggles, did their thing and wrote everything down and it struck Jesse that she was in charge of a whole building full of professionals. Even the janitor was more qualified than she was, come to think of it. And he wasn’t even human.

Watching Emily work was something else. Her quick mind was working full speed. Jesse saw her calculating and coming up with one hypothesis after the other, verifying or falsifying them as they came. Her hair shone a soft shade of gold even in the unnatural half light but that didn’t come close to the smile Emily sent her whenever Jesse asked something about this or that theory.

Around midday, a Ranger came to report that workers had come to assess the damage. They had machines and everything they’d need to dig up any potentially damaged underground cables, but Arish was holding them off. Jesse thought that she should go check on Arish, make sure that the workers left but honestly, she wasn’t sure how. Arish knew how to do this, but she had no idea so she told the Ranger to come get her should they need her assistance and that she would stay near the object, if possible.

He nodded, then saluted and went back. There was now a path stomped into the snow. Arish seemed to have the situation under control. They went back to their camp in the early afternoon to eat something. Jesse wanted to stay back with the Rangers, to make sure the Item wouldn’t cause a hazard, but Emily wouldn’t hear any of it.

“You have to eat, Jesse. Come on, or I’ll drag you.”

“Well, that’s just unfair. The Rangers don’t get anything to eat, either, so I should stay here and-“

“No. The other two will take their posts right after we eat something, so they can go back to the camp. And I know you, if you stay here now, you won’t eat anything until tonight.”

Jesse held up her hands in a surrendering gesture. “Alright, alright. I’m coming”, she said and Emily rolled her eyes at her. They went back side by side and had a light meal of soup and bread, while Arish promised a real BBQ in the evening.

“What about the workers that were here to repair the ‘damage’?”, asked Jesse.

“I got them tangled up in jurisdiction. Told them it was ours, had some forms, you know. Now they have to go back to their supervisor, talk to them, check the documents. They’re real, by the way. So, either they come back to tell me I was right, or they won’t come back at all. In any case, they should be gone until at least tomorrow.”

“Well, the Bureau really doesn’t do things halfway, does it?”

“No. But we are classified. We can overrule most local departments without too many questions. They mostly don’t care, anyways. It means less work for them.”

That made sense. She wondered if the FBC prevented the police from investigating the disappearance of the whole population of Ordinary. If they got child services to ignore the fact that Dylan didn’t have a legal guardian and if they were responsible for her misadventure at the psychiatric ward. Did they know where she was the whole time?

Her head was almost spinning with the possibility that each and every one of her steps had been observed and spied on. She had tried to lay low, to fly under the radar, all the while searching for her lost brother. The brother that was supposedly dead.

While she was the one believing in ‘conspiracies’, the bureau could overrule everything without the blink of an eye. She’d been a mere figure in their game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going way too smoothly, don't you think? The whole thing might just blow up into their faces.  
> Also, I'm sorry for the delay on posting this chapter. Don't be afraid though, the story is finished and I will not abandon it halfway through :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A happy new year to all of you!!

They tested until late evening. Everything took a lot of time, because they couldn’t do anything simultaneously, but they did it in the end.

Emily’s cheeks were rosy because of her excitement about all the new data. Jesse felt somewhat dizzy from being in the half-light the whole day. It was now dark again, not only in the immediate presence of the Item.

She’d just have to contain it, now. It would be over soon. But Jesse knew that it was the most reasonable thing to stay put until the next day. Another night in the tent wouldn’t kill her.

The scientists had bought the Black Rock container. This was going to be the last thing that needed to be done. Hopefully, they’d get the power back once the light bulb was inside the cubic container. The team of scientists had prepared it, so Jesse would just need to carry the Item over and put it inside.

“Alright”, said Jesse. “All of you, go back to the camp.”

“What?”, asked Mick. The other scientists stood crowded at the table with their test results.

“I’ll carry the thing over and put it inside. But you can’t be here in case something happens.”

“We can turn our backs, so nothing will happen”, he said.

“No. What good would that do? There would be nothing you could do to help me if something actually happened. I’ll feel better if there’s nobody else in any danger.”

“The Director is right”, decided Emily. “Pack up and go back to the camp.”

Satisfied, Jesse nodded and left their temporary scientific base to stand near the edge from where she’d go over to the Item and contain it. It didn’t take them long to pack everything. Emily came back to her, though. She had a dark scarf in her hands and held it out to her expectantly.

“Alright. Blindfold me”, said the Head of Research.

“Excuse me, what?”

“I told you I’d be there when you contain it, remember? I won’t let you fall if something goes wrong and to actually do that, I’ll need to be there.”

“Emily, I appreciate that, but it’s dangerous and-“

“No buts. Do it, or I’ll do it myself. I’m going to be here, either way.”

Jesse looked at her intently. It was true, Emily had promised not to let her do it alone. And it had made her feel better. Still, this wasn’t harmless and she didn’t know what would happen if someone stood near an Object that was being contained. She could see the determination in Emily’s eyes though and Jesse gave in, taking the scarf from her and motioning her to turn around before carefully tying the blindfold at the back of her head. She made sure it was tight, but not tight enough to be unpleasant.

“Is it ok like this?”, she asked.

“Yes.”

“Ok. Let’s do this”, said Jesse. She put on the goggles and took Emily’s hand, squeezing it lightly before leading her over to the Item. It got considerably hotter as they neared the Object. She stopped them right before the light bulb and ripped the barrier tape. Jesse could feel herself getting nervous. This was her first Altered Item in quite some time. She’d contained most of the Objects that had gotten out of the Panopticon without too much trouble. What if this one was different? 

“We’re standing right in front of it”, she told Emily and let go of her hand. Emily reached out and touched her shoulder instead, like she had done early in the morning to calm her. It still had that effect on her.

Jesse squinted. The light was blinding, even though she was wearing the goggles. She lifted her hand and felt the familiar tingle, but Polaris’ crystals flared weakly, making Jesse frown. She put her hand nearer to the Object, making Polaris flare more powerful in return, but it wasn’t enough. The Thing was so hot on her palms that it hurt, but still she couldn’t get in touch with it through her powers.

“Emily”, she said. Her hands shook. “Let go of me.”

“What is it? Jesse, you’re shaking.” Emily tightened her hold on Jesse’s shoulder to reassure her, but it didn’t seem to work this time. It was also the opposite of what Jesse had asked of her.

“I uh- I think I’ll have to touch it. Polaris can’t reach out to it.” Jesse realized just now what that would mean: gripping the scorching hot Item in her hand.

“It’ll burn you, Jesse! I almost can’t stand it, standing here. You can’t touch it”, Emily urged.

“It’s no use, I uh- I can’t contain it otherwise. Let go.”

“You don’t know if it will work!”

“This is the only thing I can think of, Emily. It needs to be contained, who knows what will happen if it stays here. Let go so whatever happens won’t hurt you.”

“No”, Emily said. “Don’t touch it! We’ll find another way to figure this out”, she stressed. But Jesse had made up her mind. She pushed Emily back, so she was out of range and forced herself to grip the blazing hot light bulb, screaming when it burned her. She hadn’t anticipated Emily lurching forward, trying to rip her back. The pain was so overwhelming that she passed out for a few seconds.

* * *

She woke up in the absolute darkness. Someone held her head in their hands, smoothing her hair.

“Jesse?” It was Emily. She whispered her name until she lifted her head, sitting up.

“Emily? What happened?”

“You’re an idiot, that’s what happened! Damn it, Jesse. You touched it.”

Jesse tried to move her fingers but hissed in pain. She touched it alright. And it burned her skin off.

“Shit! Your hand.” Emily had taken off her blindfold. Not that it changed anything, it was still pitch black all around them. This was what she meant when she thought that Jesse was unpredictable, now they were somewhere and Jesse was hurt. Emily held Jesse’s wrist in her hands, soothing the back of her hand. “What did you think you were doing, Jesse?”, she asked softly.

“That I didn’t want it to hurt anybody. That I wanted it safely contained so it wouldn’t cause any damage to anyone.”

“It hurt you, Jesse. You’re someone”, sighed Emily. “Please try to stay in one piece, ok? You gotta be safe too.”

“Why didn’t you stand back, Emily?”, asked Jesse. Now they were both here, wherever this was. It felt like the Astral Plane, but completely reversed. Everything was dark. She yelped when Emily abruptly pulled her into a tight hug but returned the gesture, hissing when her burned hand made contact with Emily’s back.

“Careful”, the scientist chided. “I think it transported us to the Astral Plane. It’s as if someone has cut the power here, too.”

“Why did you do it, Emily?” She didn’t need to say what she meant.

“I promised. Someone has to make sure you don’t get into too much trouble. Or at least that you have help to get out of it again.”

Jesse didn’t know what to answer her, so she breathed out a soft thank you. “It’s just… it’s just like in my dream. It’s completely dark, damn it”, she said then. A shiver ran down her spine. So, it wasn’t exactly like her dream. It had been stifling hot there, but here it was freezing. She was somewhat thankful for it, because her palm was burning as if she still touched the light bulb. Hot air wouldn’t help at all. The wound throbbed angrily, sending pain through her whole hand. She wasn’t even sure if she could still feel her fingers.

“Listen to me, Jesse. Do not do anything rash, alright? It’s going to be alright. We just need to figure out how to get out of here”, said Emily.

< The darkness/atmosphere/Plane is bothering you/the Director >

Jesse’s head jerked up, Emily flinched violently and she slid closer to her. She was horrified and it was obvious that she didn’t understand the Board’s words. Jesse couldn’t blame her, the words sounded horrible, even to her.

“What is that?”, asked Emily, her voice fearful and Jesse heard rustling, as if Emily was trying to look into different directions. Not that it was of any use.

“It’s the Board. They’re stating the obvious”, answered Jesse, voice laced with sarcasm.

< We will grant/curse you with another ability/skill >

“Why thank you”, Jesse said into the darkness. “I hope it’ll help us get out of here.”

< Throw sudden brightness/lightning to see/to dazzle foes. Leave the intruder/Pope/sidekick here >

No way, thought Jesse but didn’t tell the Board. She wondered why they hated it so much when Emily was somewhere near them. Maybe they knew that if someone could find out anything about them, it was her. Maybe they were afraid of Emily’s intellect, of her wit and her fast thinking.

It was like it had been with all her other abilities. She just suddenly knew how to use them. “Emily”, she said. “They gave something to me.”

“Another ability?”, Emily asked, excitement creeped into her still fearful voice.

“Yes, watch”, Jesse said and threw a bright arc of light onto the ground. Emily flinched again, closing her eyes tightly at the sudden brightness but Jesse wasn’t affected. The few seconds of light were enough for her to see the next block of stone floating slightly above them to the left.

“Take my hand”, said Jesse. They found each other in the darkness. Emily had carefully stood up and stepped around her, so that she was now holding Jesse’s uninjured hand. “I’m going to levitate us. I saw the next ledge.”

“Ok”, said Emily and braced herself. She was sure that Jesse would have to drag her, lift her up like a sack of potatoes, but she effortlessly floated with her. It emitted such a light feeling inside of her that she couldn’t contain a delighted laugh. “This is amazing!” she gushed and forgot that she couldn’t see a thing. Later she realized that it wouldn’t have made any difference. She trusted Jesse to keep her safe, it’s what she’d done from the beginning. She hooked her other hand in the crook of Jesse’s arm, so she was completely pressed into her side.

They landed on the other block. “I’ll throw another one”, said Jesse, and Emily closed her eyes. This ability obviously dazzled everyone except for Jesse. They did this for what seemed to be a long time, floating from platform to platform and Emily wondered how far they’d need to go or what their destination was. But Jesse seemed to know.

“What are we searching for?”

“There’s going to be a spot with tiny floating stones. That’s the connection to our Plane, we just need to find-“ but she was cut off by sudden shooting. She let herself fall onto the ground, taking Emily with her. There was a ledge before them. “Stay here”, she said and got up before Emily could protest. She drew her Service Weapon and threw another arc of light. There were Hiss-agent imitations, like the ones she’d seen numerous times. All of her movements put strain onto her wound, it burned angrily. She took two of the not-Hiss agents down and took care of three more as she threw the next arc. They shot at her even in the dark, but she could evade the bullets. She wasn’t sure how they could know where she was, but everything was possible in the Astral Plane, as far as she knew. Throwing another arc just as the shots started again, she evaded them but slipped off the stone block and fell. She screamed as her weight hung off of her hands, straining the wound on her palm when she gripped the ledge. She felt like passing out again, tears streamed down her face as her burned hand lost its grip on her own blood.

“Jesse?”, she heard Emily’s alarmed shout.

“Stay there! Stay down!”, she instructed, breath hitching, reaching up to grip the edge again to lift herself, tearing up flesh. She hissed. But she couldn’t find purchase, the blood made the smooth surface slippery. The exertion made her muscles tremble and the shots hadn’t stopped, but the not-Hiss agents didn’t seem to understand that they could kill her by throwing off. They weren’t real, anyways. They were some kind of scheme from the Board to train her like a goddamned dog.

“Jesse?”, she heard Emily call, nearer now.

“Emily!”, she shouted back. She tried to grip the edge again, but slipped, hand burning like it was on fire. Her muscles were about to fail her and she felt herself loose her grip. In an attempt to let Emily know where she was she threw another arc. It bounced off of the stone once, showing her the abyss that opened up under her.  
She felt a strong grip on her arm and felt herself being lifted up. Emily’s heavy breath hitched as more shots rang out. The Hiss-imitations had moved nearer, one of them made a move to hit Jesse. She ducked, pushing Emily out of the way, just as she threw her next arc, drew her knife and drove it through its chest, effectively making the not-agent crumble into pieces. She then put up her shield around both of them as soon as she was steady again, throwing another arc to take out the last shooters.

Her shield fell down, as did she. She fell onto her knees, sucking in breaths while her hand clenched involuntary, making it feel more excruciating than it had before. The knife fell onto the ground. She was aware of the fact that this probably wasn’t good. She felt lightheaded.

Emily entered her field of vision. She’d crouched down to her level, putting both of her hands on Jesse’s shoulders.

“It’s over”, whispered Emily. “You did it.”

Jesse didn’t feel like she could answer, so she just nodded, heartbeat accelerated and breathing ragged.

“Breathe, Jesse. That’s it, you got them.”

When she calmed, somewhat she put an arm around Emily, hugging her tightly like the Head of Research had done when they first entered the Astral Plane. “You saved my life”, she breathed and tucked her head into Emily’s neck. “Thank you.”

Emily said nothing but hugged her back. They sat like that for a long time in the darkness and Jesse noticed just how good her Head of Research smelled and just how soft her hair was. She couldn’t really appreciate it though, because her hand still burned angrily.

They stood up eventually, hands intertwined and Jesse picked up her knife and put it in its sheath. Jesse knew that their exit point was here. It was why the board had placed the not-Hiss agents here. She told Emily to close her eyes and threw light to locate it.

< Leave the Intruder/Pope here > reminded the Board, but Jesse ignored them, gripping Emily’s hand tighter instead before she held her bloodied hand over their exit point.

* * *

They were transported back instantly, making them both dizzy.

The light bulb seemed to shine normally now, it didn’t suck in the light anymore and it wasn’t as bright. The not-light was extinguished. The pain in her hand was agonizing.

“It worked”, said Emily, looking at Jesse with wonder. “You did it.”

“We did it”, corrected Jesse and cut the wire of the lamp with her Black Rock knife. The light bulb did not cease to shine, as if it suddenly didn’t need the power anymore. This is bullshit, thought Jesse. It had sucked in all power before and now it suddenly didn’t need any of it anymore? What a shitshow. They put it into the container.

“I’d be dead without you”, Jesse said in a serious tone while looking intently at Emily. It was true. She had felt herself losing her grip. A few seconds longer and she would’ve fallen down, just like in her dream. She shivered. Emily would’ve been stranded in the Astral Plane, while the Board hated her for some reason.

“You need to have your hand checked”, said Emily as she took it, putting fresh snow onto the wound. Jesse hissed in pain, but it felt better after a second, cooling the overheated flesh down a bit. Jesse was sure that the skin was burned off completely. Emily stroked the area around the wound. “Shit, Jesse”, she said. The moonlight was now shining clearly, not sucked into the not-light of the light bulb. Emily saw streams of blood and water in Jesse’s palm, hand glitching over them.

“Will you bandage it for me?”

“Of course. Come on, let’s go back.”

Emily carried the container alone, not letting Jesse do anything but walk beside her. It was too heavy for her but she refused to let the Director help. The Head of Research wished she could carry the container in one hand, so she’d be able to hold Jesse’s hand with the other. It was better this way, she supposed. But still, she missed the feeling of the Director’s hand in hers.

The scientists didn’t ask any questions but took the container from Emily to secure it.

“Good god Faden, what did you do?”, asked Arish when he saw them. Emily realized just now that the blood and water had completely ruined Jesse’s clothes, making it look like she’d been butchered and it was still dripping down her fingers.

“I touched the lightbulb.”

Arish looked alarmed. “Why did you- ? Nevermind.” He sighed, then, “Still, the heat should’ve burned the wound shut. So, what happened after you touched it?”

Jesse sighed. “I fell off a platform in the Astral Plane and had to hang on for a bit. I guess the strain tore open the wound.”

The Captain of the Rangers actually flinched as Jesse scooped up another handful of untouched snow to cool down her hand. Arish went to get the first aid kit without any further questions.

It was a nasty wound, but Emily cleaned it thoroughly and very gently, put an antiseptic, cooling salve on it and bandaged it up. Jesse couldn’t really close her hand, but still caught Emily’s fingers with hers. They smiled at each other, contently sitting there at the fire, their intertwined hands hidden from the others.

“Power’s back on”, remarked Arish, gesturing into the direction of the town. They could see the lights in their houses. “We just need to check if there are any technicalities we need to cover before we go tomorrow.”

He cooked them dinner. The others already ate, but he insisted and so they had their meals on plates in their laps less than twenty minutes later.

“When did you become such a good cook?”, asked Emily, grinning widely at him. Jesse was fascinated with the way the light caught in Emily’s hair once again.

“You know, I could tell you. But I’d have to kill you if you knew”, he teased back and went to pack away all leftovers, leaving them to sit at the fire.

Frustrated, Jesse stared at her dinner.

“What?”, asked Emily.

“I can’t eat”, she said, gesturing to her fork and knife. Realization dawned on Emily. Jesse couldn’t hold the cutlery in her burned hand.

“Give it to me”, said the Head of Research and cut Jesse’s meal into tiny pieces, so she’d just have to stab them with a fork. “You know, that’s what you get when you don’t listen to me. And now I will have to cook dinner for you when we get back, even though you’re the one who invited me”, she chided gently, prompting Jesse to let out an amused breath.

“We can still order in”, murmured Jesse and grinned at Emily who sat there and looked at her with one eyebrow lifted before eating her own meal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :) There's one more to go (and a bonus).


	7. Chapter 7

Emily sent Jesse to clean herself up and change out of her ruined clothes while she’d go and check on the container, to be absolutely sure it was secure. There was no way she was taking any risks when it was her responsibility to make sure that no one got hurt. As Head of Research, everything would fall back on her. She wasn’t going to allow any errors.

The container had already been loaded up into the van, where it sat safe and secure. Arish gave her the keys. It was locked and lashed down onto the floor with thick lashing straps.

Satisfied she went to go back but stopped in her tracks when she heard Julia talk to her colleague Alexandra. It was obvious that they didn’t know she was there. _Why?_ , thought Emily. She didn’t want to witness another conversation like the one in the parking lot, but for all it seemed she would.

“God Alex, have you seen how Pope was mothering the Director?”, asked Julia bristling. A car door was opened up. “What else will she do to kiss her ass?”

“I know!”, said Alex. “It’s pathetic. As if Director Faden needed her. She’s the poster girl for awkwardness. It’s a miracle Faden can even hold a conversation with her.”

“And making her Head of Research. I wonder what Pope did to persuade her to promote her. Underhill has so much more experience, giving out clear instructions. I think Emily sometimes grins that stupid grin of hers because she doesn’t know what to say”, said Julia and Alex giggled. They started rummaging around in the car, searching for a bag or something. “Oh Director, look, I invented a completely useless knife from a material that’s absolutely unsuited for this purpose and so hard to process that it took me a month to create this crappy prototype”, Alex said, trying to mimic Emily’s upbeat attitude.

Emily put a hand over her mouth to keep an unexpected sob in that was trying to get out. She felt hot tears burn behind her eyes but refused to let them fall. They didn’t need to see her breaking down because of some mean words. Not only would that be way more embarrassing than having her affections for the Director thrown into her face like this, even if they didn’t know that she was here, but also because she would never ever hear the end of it. The Head of Research breaking down because she was called out for being a goddamn awkward wallflower. So she kept her hand there and slid down onto the ground, trying to make herself as small as possible.

“Can’t imagine anything Pope could offer her that would be better than Underhill.”

Julia snorted. “She’ll notice soon enough. I mean, Pope stayed behind when Faden ordered us to go. She denied a _direct_ fucking order. What a disgrace. Trench would’ve had her fired by now.”

“He sure would“, answered Alex as they shut all doors of the van and went back to the camp.

Emily took some moments to try and calm herself, but her hands shook and the knot in her stomach wouldn’t cease. Jesse would be wondering where she was by now, but the thought of facing her Director made the knot tighten.

What if they were right and Jesse would come to regret her decision to promote her? Or worse, what if she realized just how socially inept she was? She’d liked Jesse the second she saw her. It was so easy to talk to her, but maybe Jesse didn’t think the same of her. No, that couldn’t be. Not when she had hugged her back just as tightly, right? She wouldn’t just do that out of pity for poor old Emily, incapable of any normal human interaction.

Doubt remained heavily in her chest as she trekked back to the tent she shared with Jesse. Jesse had _wanted_ to share it with her. That must count for something. She tried to take a cleansing breath but couldn’t quite accomplish it before entering the tent.

Jesse grinned up at her. She’d changed into her nightwear and had thrown a zip hoodie of some indie band over it. She really looked like she was in a summer camp, missing only the acoustic guitar. And the summer. She gestured to a dim lamp that hung from the low ceiling. “Arish could recharge our batteries. Look at this! Real light for us to enjoy”, she said, but noticed that something was off immediately. “Emily”, she said, lower, concern creeping into her voice. “What is it? What happened?”

“Nothing”, Emily answered but evaded looking into Jesse’s eyes. “Everything’s fine.”

The Director saw the glassy quality of Emily’s eyes and knew somehow that this had nothing to do with their little misadventure, but more with the current team of scientists that did everything to shit-talk about their boss while nobody noticed, or cared. It was above her how they could be so ignorant. “No. It’s not, don’t lie to me”, Jesse begged. “Tell me, please?”

But Emily just shook her head, pulling her own oversized hoodie over her head somewhat angrily, trying to contain her emotions. Jesse saw her failing miserably. Her hands shook and when she noticed, she clenched them so tight that her knuckles became white, still shaking.

“Look, if this is about Julia and-“

“You’ve got no idea, Jesse. They think Underhill should’ve had the promotion? Fine. Maybe they’re right, because Darling sure never told me anything, anyways. And I worked with him for years. Underhill on the other hand got all the juicy details about his genius research projects over fucking lunch. They think I’m fake, that I try to impress you with my useless ideas. Obviously all I am is some overboard scientist misfit that can’t even hold a civil conversation without making anything awkward and I just- you see…”, Emily had talked herself into a state where she desperately tried to contain her sobs. “All I ever do is prove them right, goddamn it.” And that was the exact moment the first tear slid down her cheek. She pulled her legs up to her chest, curling into herself, brushing away her tears but Jesse saw them anyways. This was just wonderful, thought Emily. The one person she wished would see her as competent instead saw her breaking down like a damn fool.

Jesse leaned forward in the tiny space, making Emily look at her. “Please tell me that’s not really what you think about yourself”, she said, but Emily just evaded looking at her eyes, letting her gaze dart around the tent instead. “That’s bullshit, Emily. You want to see a misfit? Here I am. I didn’t hold a job for more than a year at a time. I was a janitor, a cashier, a forestry worker and I’ve worked as a temp for a restaurant. I never had friends anywhere and I was admitted to a mental hospital. For what it’s worth, your career, as a scientist so brilliant that Darling pulled you directly out of college, is phenomenal. And they can think what they want, I’d take your company over theirs any day.”

She tentatively put her arms around Emily. It was awkward, because she crouched in front of her and Emily still had her knees drawn up to her chest, but Jesse made it work. Emily let go then, clutching Jesse while sobbing quietly into her shoulder. She didn’t move when she calmed down, much to Jesse’s surprise, but turned her face into Jesse’s neck, resting there for a long time.

They parted eventually and Emily unfolded her legs, sniffing a little bit, then, “So you don’t think I make every situation awkward?”

“No way. I love that you’re so enthusiastic about what you do. And I’d never understand anything, if you wouldn’t be so good at explaining it. I- I love being around you”, Jesse admitted, because she felt that Emily really needed to hear this, more than she needed to not say it because she was afraid it would be too much too soon. Instead, Emily blushed prettily and smiled brightly for the first time since they sat at the fire.

“Thank you”, whispered Emily and brushed the last of her tears from her cheeks.

Jesse decided that it was time for more fun. “Come on”, she said and pushed her sleeping bag so it was directly beside Emily’s. “We can tell each other spooky stories. My parents never let me go to a holiday camp. This is the closest thing I’ll get, let’s not waste it!” She smiled brightly, turned off the light and crawled into her sleeping bag. She felt Emily beside her. Both knew that this was a tactic both to distract Emily from her thoughts and Jesse from her unease of this place, but it was fine as long as it worked.

They quietly told each other stories until they fell asleep, hands entangled from when Emily managed to jump scare Jesse, who promptly clutched her hand tightly.

* * *

Emily woke up the next day, hand still entangled with Jesse’s. She was warm, the sun was already up, but it was still early. The Director was dozing, not really asleep, not really awake until she felt Emily shift. Then she blinked lazily and smiled at her. The pale morning light made everything seem calm and quiet.

“Hey”, she whispered, smile widening at Emily’s mirroring one. “Sleep well?”

“Yeah.” Emily shifted until she completely faced Jesse without letting go of her hand. “I’m sorry about last night. That was unprofessional and-“

“Stop right there”, intercepted Jesse. “I’m glad we talked about that. I don’t want you thinking these things and I sure don’t want you to think that I am thinking these things. I wouldn’t trade you for anyone and I made you Head of Research for a reason. If they don’t like the way I’m leading this Bureau, they can look for a new job for all I care” she said determinedly. It wasn’t a lie, either. Emily was a brilliant scientist. Her clever brain functioned in a dimension Jesse couldn’t really understand and her knowledge about the Oldest House had been invaluable to her, especially in the Foundation. She’d found out as much as possible about the Hiss before Jesse took the last one out and she’d find out all about this AWE, even without her high-tech measuring instruments. Jesse was convinced that Emily wouldn’t need them to present her with a perfectly written file about it in just about a week. “I’m the Director, whatever, but we don’t need to be professional”, she said and then shyly added, “Actually, I’d like us to not be professional.”

The smile Emily smiled just then was worth the risk of saying the words, decided Jesse. She hoped that she could put this exact expression onto her face more often.

“Really?”, asked Emily. She sat up while Jesse stayed put, looking up at her Head of Research. Her hair was a mess and Jesse longed to smooth it with her hand.

“Yes. I was hoping to tell you this over dinner, but my plans got screwed. There was this Event happening and, you know, my hand got injured so I thought I’d just… tell you.”

“That’s perfect, Jesse”, breathed Emily. She started tracing Jesse’s jawline with two fingers, feeling her pulse and her smooth skin. “I’ll still come over when we get back. I can cook, you know. How does that sound?”

“Perfect”, Jesse echoed Emily, making her grin. She felt the dull throb of her hand, but ignored it.

Impulsively, Emily leaned down and pressed her lips to Jesse’s in a soft kiss, making her forget all about any injuries she might or might not have. Emily lingered there with her lips pressed to Jesse’s, enjoying the moment before pulling back.

“This was not professional”, said Jesse, “and I loved it. Maybe we can be not-professional some more?”

Emily let out a delighted laugh before leaning down again, kissing Jesse. Before long, they were both grinning too widely to kiss, so they decided to get up and see what kind of delicious breakfast Arish had come up with today.

* * *

As it turned out, Arish had taken the morning off, opting to buy a whole lot of baked goods from a nearby bakery. He’d set up a tiny buffet, complete with some fruits and coffee. Julia and Alex weren’t there yet and Jesse and Emily ate their breakfast mostly in silence. They sat, sipping coffee when the other scientists joined them. Arish was standing nearby. He’d already bought back the welding equipment to the car shop. Jesse got the feeling that he couldn’t quite settle down while he was responsible for the safety. She’d seen it once when the Hiss had invaded the Bureau. He hadn’t really slept or settled down then, either.

“Faden”, he said. “What exactly happened yesterday?”

Jesse sighed, but Arish was just concerned for her and she appreciated it. “The Object transported us back into the Astral Plane, but it was dark there, too. The Board gave me another ability.”

Arish looked intrigued, “what is it?”

“Dazzling”, said Emily. “I hope we can do some tests when we get back to the Oldest House”, she added, looking hopeful.

“Sure we can. After a very long weekend”, answered Jesse. “We found our way back but were attacked just as we were about to get out.”

“Attacked?”, asked Arish, frowning.

“Yeah. It’s the Board’s way of testing me”, said Jesse, clenching her jaw. “They send imitations of Hiss agents. Emily was unarmed, so I fought them, but I fell off of the platform. Emily pulled me up again or I would’ve fallen down”, she sent a look towards Julia, who was trying very hard not to listen to their conversation, again. Just to be sure, she added, “Emily saved my life there. They were still shooting at us when she got me up.”

Jesse could see Emily’s cheeks coloring, but nothing she said was a lie. It had been very dangerous for her to come and get her up. She’d been exposed the whole time and could have been hit by a bullet at any time. And then they would’ve both fallen to their deaths there. Jesse felt sudden anger at the Board. What was their goddamned agenda? And what did they think she’d do? Actually leave Emily in the Astral Plane to die?

“Well Pope, would you be interested in becoming a Ranger? I feel like I’m onto something, here”, said Arish. “You passed your field training with flying colors, too. Maybe you should be out in the field more often.”

“I appreciate it, Simon, but I really think science is more my lane.”

He sighed dramatically. “I was afraid you might say that. Still, thanks, Pope. You know, we do need this Director; and you. And I’m glad you’re both ok.” He clapped her back affectionally and Jesse could see their easy friendship. What business did Julia have to call her Head of Research socially inept? She was very obviously coping very well. And, she realized, so was she, herself. She found friends in the most unlikely place.

After breakfast, they got their things together. They’d be on the road for most of the day, so Arish decided it would be good to start early. This time, however, he didn’t say anything when Jesse climbed into the van with Emily.  


Arish assigned them two Rangers, who sat in the front and adequately ignored the Head of Research and the Director discreetly holding hands in the back, stealing kisses every now and again, grinning like fools.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! Find me on [tumblr](https://tumblr.com/blog/einsesk) if you want to hang out :)  
> Look at the next chapter for some very cool files [Kip](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KipRussel/pseuds/KipRussel) made for this story!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Kip](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KipRussel/pseuds/KipRussel) made these for me, thanks so much!


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